roasted beet, arugula, & goat cheese salad.

after all of this traveling & celebrating & eating large, i have been craving a fantastic, fresh, & healthy salad.  arugula is my favorite green in the world, everything is better with goat cheese, & roasted beets are so lovely in the summer.  so born was this salad!  & luckily for me, i found a very delish vinaigrette to go with my salad on food network.  enjoy!

arugula, goat cheese, & roasted beet salad

vinaigrette recipe from:  food network

roasted beet how to: bobby flay

fresh beets {these come in all different sizes, so there is really no point in telling you how many}

1/4 c balsamic vinegar

1 large shallot, finely diced

1 T honey

1/4 c evoo

salt & pepper

arugula {however much salad you want.  this is an adaptable recipe.}

walnuts {i didn't bother toasting them & they were wonderful}, chopped

goat cheese {again... your call.}

1.  first up, roast the beets.  great news - this can be done ahead of time.  a few hours, a day, whatever works for you.  scrub your beets with one of those potato scrubbers.  wrap each one in foil, making sure the entire beet is covered.  bake at 375 for about an hour, depending on the size.  mine were gigantic & i only had an hour.  so after an hour, i turned the oven off, kept them wrapped up, & left them in the oven while we went for a run for about 45 minutes.  this worked great for me.  you want them fully cooked but not super soft.  helpful, i know.

2.  after that rambling, let the beets cool, unwrapped, until you can comfortably hold them.  peeling them takes awhile & thus you have to hold them for awhile.  in theory, you will be able to peel them with the back of a knife, just pulling the peel off "easily".  it took me awhile.  stick with it; it's worth it.

3. next up, vinaigrette.  thanks to one of my favorite authors, shauna niequist, & her book bread & wine, i learned a great trick when making vinaigrette of any kind - put the ingredients in a mason jar, throw on the lid, & shake shake shake.  so put your vinegar, shallot, honey, oil, salt, & pepper in a mason jar, shake shake shake, & there you go!  delicious vinaigrette.

4. in a bowl, put as much arugula as you'd like & a little less vinaigrette than you'd think & toss.  place that on a plate, top with walnuts & goat cheese, & thinly slice some roasted beets to finish.  enjoy!

love love,

kjp.